Lesson 5 I May Be Irrational, But You’re Imaginary Solidify Understanding
Learning Focus
Relate irrational numbers to physical quantities such as the hypotenuse of a right triangle.
Understand expressions that contain negative numbers inside a square root, like
Add, subtract, and multiply complex numbers.
Can numbers like
What types of numbers make up the number system?
Open Up the Math: Launch, Explore, Discuss
Part 1: Irrational numbers
1.
Verify that
2.
Verify that
You may have found it difficult to locate the exact points on the number line that represent the two solutions to the second pair of quadratic equations given above. The following diagrams might help.
3.
Find the perimeter of this isosceles triangle. Express your answer with any like terms combined.
We might approximate the perimeter of this triangle with a decimal number, but the exact perimeter is
4.
Explain how you could use this diagram to locate the two solutions to the quadratic equations given in problem 2:
5.
Are the numbers we have located on the number line in this way rational numbers or irrational numbers? Explain your answer.
Both sets of quadratic equations given in problems 1 and 2 have solutions that can be plotted on a number line. The solutions to the first set of quadratic equations are rational numbers. The solutions to the second set of quadratic equations are irrational numbers.
Big Idea #1: The set of numbers that contains all of the rational numbers and all of the irrational numbers is called the set of real numbers. The location of all points on a number line can be represented by real numbers.
Pause and Reflect:
Part 2: Imaginary and Complex Numbers
In the previous lesson, To Be Determined, you found that the quadratic formula gives the solutions to the quadratic equation
6.
Based on Euler’s definition of
With the introduction of the number
7.
Find the values of the following expressions. Show the details of your work.
a.
b.
Big Idea #2: Numbers like
Big Idea #3: Complex numbers are not real numbers—they do not lie on the real number line that includes all of the rational and irrational numbers; also note that the real numbers are a subset of the complex numbers since a real number results when the imaginary part of
Operations with complex numbers follow the same properties as real numbers, but there are a few things to pay attention to, like when adding or subtracting two complex numbers, the real parts of the numbers are like terms and the imaginary part of the numbers are like terms.
For example:
For example:
Now try a few yourself:
8.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Multiplying complex numbers is the same as multiplying irrational numbers like
For instance, let’s multiply
Adding like terms gives us:
Give it a try, using either the open area model method or distributing terms horizontally.
9.
a.
b.
These two complex numbers are called conjugates because they are the same except the opposite sign on the second term. Check out what happens here:
10.
a.
b.
c.
What do you notice about the answers? Why is this result occurring?
Now let’s go back and think about complex solutions to quadratic equations.
11.
Given the function
12.
Check one of your solutions, showing the details of your work.
13.
Are the solutions to the equation
14.
Find the solutions to the equation
Now that we have established complex numbers as functional, useful numbers, let’s think again about the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra.
The Fundamental Theorem of Algebra, Revisited
Remember the following information given in the previous task:
A polynomial function is a function of the form:
where all of the exponents are positive integers and all of the coefficients
As the theory of finding roots of polynomial functions evolved, a 17th century mathematician, Girard (1595-1632) made the following claim which has come to be known as the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra: An
15.
Based on your work in this task, do you believe this theorem holds for quadratic functions? That is, do all functions of the form
Ready for More?
The solutions to the equation
Verify that
Takeaways
Roots:
If the graph of a quadratic function intersects the
If the graph of a quadratic function does not intersect the
Vocabulary
- complex conjugates
- complex number
- imaginary number
- Bold terms are new in this lesson.
Lesson Summary
In this lesson, we connected irrational numbers to the measure of geometric figures and showed where a given irrational number is located on the number line. We found irrational solutions of quadratic equations and used the solutions to write the equation in factored form. We also learned of a new set of numbers defined in terms of
1.
Classify each of the numbers represented below according to the sets to which they belong. If a number fits in more than one set, then select all that apply.
a.
A.
whole numbers
B.
integers
C.
rational numbers
D.
irrational numbers
E.
real numbers
b.
A.
whole numbers
B.
integers
C.
rational numbers
D.
irrational numbers
E.
real numbers
c.
A.
whole numbers
B.
integers
C.
rational numbers
D.
irrational numbers
E.
real numbers
d.
A.
whole numbers
B.
integers
C.
rational numbers
D.
irrational numbers
E.
real numbers
2.
Solve: